You Take the Breath Right out of Me [Bolt, ReD]

Provoking Leon was a difficult thing to accomplish. Making him even threaten you was a task worthy of a round of applause. Right now all he wanted to do was punch Lochlaan in the face. Leon didn't like the fact that despite all the help and kindness he was showing, nothing but venom was being thrown his way. Any other time Leon would have done so. But right now he still had enough of his thoughts to keep himself calm enough. Least that's what he was telling himself.

"Underestimate? No. I've been taught enough to never do such a thing. But whatever. I'm not going to stand here and let more venom be spewed. There is one thing I want you to know Lochlaan."

At this point Leon turned back and faced the two. His eyes were narrowed and there was a look of half disgust and half his normal look. He was trying to hold in the thoughts and things he wanted to say and this was what was escaping out.

"I could tell form the start from your actions. How you acted once you noticed us. What I didn't see was how you thought about us. You want to run off? Fine. Running from your problems doesn't solve anything. You got a problem with me you better damn well say whatever it is."

Leon started to talk a step forward, but stopped himself. Moving towards either of them was a bad idea he felt. As much as he wanted to comfort Adelene, Leon didn't know how Lochlaan would react to him getting that much closer. It was a risk he wanted to take. His rational mind told him that doing so could cause more pain to Adelene. He could see from his body language that if Leon took any step closer Lochlaan might lash out physically. He didn't want the image of Adelene's two friends in a fist fight to be something she saw.

By this point Leon had looked towards Adelene. She was troubled. Leon really wanted to comfort her. If anything he would walk away to avoid anything more. His mind and heart didn't know what to do. He wanted to be there, but he also didn't want to drag this out anymore. This his mind went fuck it. Leon took a few more steps towards Lochlaan and Adelene, crouching over when he got next to Adelene all the while glaring at Lochlaan.

"If you want to fight then we'll do it, however I don't fight the injured. And as for you Little Missy, "Leon placed his hand on her head, rustling her hair a bit to try and comfort her, "You did nothing wrong. If I had to say anything to this, it's just two guys having jealously issues.
"

Was that really all it was? Leon believed so. He was quite ready to beat the shit out of Lochlaan, but knew it was a horrible idea. He didn't want to do anything that involved causing an even bigger mess.

"If you need to go, then go. I'll make sure she gets home alright. Speaking as a general person, there's no need to help someone who doesn't want it."

@Trahnael @"ReD"

Leon was giving him whip lash.

Lochlann was so, so tired. This was like being in a bad dream, only the bad dream was his life, and he couldn't wake up. There was no possible way for this situation to get better, but Lochlann could think of a multitude of ways it could be worse.

He could fight Leon, for starters.

Lochlann was not a trained fighter. The only advantage he had was desperation and the fact that people tended to underestimate him. Lochlann was lean and well-muscled, but he hid it under his baggy jeans and hoodies. He was also fast. If he could get the first few hits, he might stand a chance.

However, against a skilled fighter, it was almost like hunting a wild animal. Hell, it was hunting a wild animal, and if they knew how to gut one, well, Lochlann was as good as boned.....and not the kind of boning he'd wanted.

Then there was the fact that Addy would probably never speak to him again. That was taking a bad situation and turning it worse.

Lochlann looked at Leon, and then he couldn't help it. He laughed.

It was a tired, pained sound.

"You're inconsistent. 'I won't fight you, I'll fight you, I won't fight you', make up your damn mind. This is my problem with you: You assume too much. "

He hated the way Leon spoke about Addy to him, as though she wasn't there, or like she was some kind of object. Little missy, what the hell, she wasn't five years old.

Was Lochlann upset that he'd hurt his best-friend by getting into a whatever-this-was with her whatever-he-was? Yes. Did he feel the need to treat her like anything less than the strong, capable adult that she was? No.

Lochlann felt something ugly uncoil inside of him and slither through his veins. He realized his hands were shaking, even the one that wasn't hurt, and he held them closer to his body.

"You know what? Yeah, I'm going, before you draw any more broad conclusions about me. I don't know who you think you are, and I don't care to find out."

He couldn't even catch Adelene's eye because Leon was right there. He didn't even know if Addy wanted to see him right now.

Lochlann left.

He angled himself so that he'd be able to see them out of the corner of his eye as he walked away. He didn't trust Leon enough not to try something once his back was turned, but once he was far enough away, Lochlann gave a shaky exhale.

That could have gone worse, but that was no consolation to him.

It was bad enough.

"Don't act like you know anything about me either. I don't like fighting, but I will if I must. Unlike you I attempted to learn about you. To defuse this. Think what you want though."

Leon just stared at Lochlaan. He waited and watched him. Something told him he wanted to throw a punch at him. Leon wasn't one to hold back either so it would have ended up bad. However Leon also didn't like fighting the injured, so his options would be rather limited.

At this point Leon had nothing left to say. As much as his own mind was telling him to punch Lochlaan in the face, he restrained himself. His training on controlling his temper was one thing he enjoyed about sparring. Right now he wanted this entire situation to just go away. And it seemed that's what was happening. Lochlaan was leaving, and making Leon more wanting to knock some sense into him. Maybe when Adelene wasn't around.

"And you keep eating your own damn words, assuming the same shit about me. I say what I see, that's it. But believe whatever you want."

Leon kept his eye on Lochlaan as he took off. After the guy got a distance away he let out a sigh before looking down at Adelene, whose face scared him. She just looked....Gone. She had no idea what was even happening it seemed and was just in the middle of it all.

"To be honest....I don't know what to say. I think the best way to put it is jealously and misunderstandings, " kneeling over Leon started to wrap his around around Adelene before backing off, "You have no reason to....Alright I can't sugar coat that in any way. This isn't your fault. You just attracted two guys who are on complete opposite sides of the spectrum it seems."

Leon decided that putting his arm around Adelene was the better option. He gave her a comforting hug to try and comfort her at the very least. It was all he could really think of doing in such a situation. He was good at cheering people up, but even that had its limits. He grabbed Adelene's hands and wrapped his own on them, trying to slowly pull them down to her sides.

"Look....It really is all confusing. I don't really know....All I can do is this and hope it helps."

Leon wrapped his arms around Adelene and brought her into a gentle hug. He just wanted to let her know everything was alright. That she didn't cause this. That it was all just...Well in Leon's mind two jealous guys. But all he wanted to do at this point was make Adelene feel safe, comforted, and not feeling so upset.

"So...Please don't cry. I don't know what I would do if I say your eyes filled with tears right now. So let me do that. Let me have the tears this time because despite how things went, I may have hurt your friend and I feel bad for it. I'm sorry."

Leon's voice sounded fine, but tears were running down his face. He was upset at himself, but that was fine. Long as he did his job at making people feel good. And right now, that meant Adelene.

@"Trahnael"

The nudge caused Leon a slight discomfort both from the action and the effect. He loosened his hug on Adelene and was about to break it off when he saw her look up. Her hands grabbed the side of his head and as she tried to dry his tears Leon was having a difficult time not letting any more tears out.

It had been a long time since he had met someone who cared. He was so used to caring about others that he had forgotten what it was like when someone actually cared about how he felt.

It was a feeling he didn't want to let go of. Especially now, knowing full well Adelene's mind must be a mess. It had to be difficult for her seeing two of her closest friends being as such. That her mind must be in some weird state knowing that they both had confessed to her.

Leon didn't have time to answer before he was being dragged off. He didn't have to say anything, nod his head, or anything of the like. Leon smiled. That's all the answer he ever needed to give. His eyes may still be watery, but he didn't care. He knew somehow that all Adelene wanted to see was him smile. And that's what he did.

One great big smile as this small girl dragged him away to have a nice dessert. That's all she'd see if she turned around and looked at him.

Leon's smile. Showing far more emotion then anything he could say or do. Especially given what just happened there was nothing more Leon could say or do to make as big of an impact as his smile would.





@"Trahnael"

(Should we end this here and pick up the next part?)